March 29, 2013

Ezra Klein Wronger Than I Thought About Scalia

On Wednesday, I wrote
about Justice Antonin Scalia’s comment that “there’s considerable
disagreement among sociologists as to what the consequences of raising a
child in a single-sex family, whether that is harmful to the child or
not.”

It turns out Scalia’s comment was wronger than I thought — and wrong in a way that Scalia, in particular, should have known.

It relied, remember, on the idea that sociologists are, in some
significant way, split on this question. That’s not what the American
Sociological Association thinks. Here’s its official statement on the
matter:

And he cites their comments in support of gay marriage, before delivering his knockout punchline:

Pretty definitive. And here’s the punchline: That paragraph isn’t buried
in a press release on its blog or in an editorial from its trade
magazine. It’s from the amicus curiae brief that the ASA filed in the very case Scalia was commenting on.

AMICI CURIAE BRIEF OF SOCIAL SCIENCE PROFESSORS IN SUPPORT OF HOLLINGSWORTH AND BIPARTISAN LEGAL ADVISORY GROUP ADDRESSING THE MERITS AND SUPPORTING REVERSAL.

Hmm. These social scientists are on a different page from their colleagues. Here is a bit of the table of contents:

I. Compelling Evidence Shows that Children Benefit from the Unique Parenting Contributions of Both Men and Women. ............ 5

II. The Claim of “No Difference” In Outcomes of Children Raised By Gay and Lesbian Parents and Intact Biological Parents Is Empirically Undermined by Significant Methodological Limitations. ......... 13

It's almost as if, contra Klein, there is disagreement among social scientists, just as Scalia said.

Or maybe Scalia was thinking of this brief by Leon Kass warning against politicized science; from the table of contents:

ARGUMENT ............................... 5

I. THIS COURT HAS RECOGNIZED THAT UNRELIABLE EXPERT OPINIONS ARE A SERIOUS THREAT TO THE INTEGRITY OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM..... 5

II. SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE IS FREQUENTLY SHAPED AND DRIVEN BY POLITICS AND IDEOLOGY .................. 7

III. THE EFFECTS OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE ON FAMILY LIFE ARE UNKNOWN, AND CURRENTLY UNKNOWABLE. ........................ 17

IV. INCONCLUSIVE STUDIES ARE OFTEN USED TO ARGUE THAT CONTROVERSIAL POLICIES ARE SCIENTIFICALLY SUPPORTED....... 25

V. THE COURT SHOULD RELY FOR ITS DECISION IN THIS CASE ON THE LAW, RATHER THAN ON SPECULATION AND IDEOLOGY MASQUERADING AS SCIENCE .......................... 30

The notion that social science is politicized should not come as a surprise to anyone, even Ezra. And the idea that Scalia should simply defer to the ASA and pretend these rival briefs do not exist is absurd.

Am watching John Stossel on FOX doing an episode on run amuck Federal Environmentalism.

One of the Lawyer's he's interviewing on his panel of angry citizens is Jim Burlington of The Pacific Legal Foundation, who is opposed to a run amuck Fish and Wildlife Agency. He is discussing how detrimental to people and the economy Fish and Wildlife has become. After some specifics he finishes this way:

...When you have the heavy hand of the federal Government threatening people with jail time, threatening people with huge fines if you don't do this, then you're going to have all sorts of trouble, and it also creates disincentives because landowners do not want to help the Endangered Species Act if that essentially is going to be an economic death sentence for them.

Hence the phrase, "Shoot, Shovel and Shut-up." That is the Trifecta that happens on some lands. It's something that I don't encourage, but as a matter of fact it does happen and some people do it legally.
Some people are cutting down their trees before they get old enough to be a habitat for Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers. It's not good for the woodpecker, it's not good for the land, it's not good for the economy.

As I recall from Roman History, part of the massive land denudation problem of the area around Lebanon and Syria and the Middle East started back during Roman occupation times. The Roman Tax policy evolved into taxing a landowner on the number of trees he had on his land. As a consequence this lead to massive clear cutting of trees in order to avoid crippling taxes, thus causing the denudation of the land, with consequent soil erosion, that continued for hundreds if not thousands of years afterward.

Wronk: n. - \räŋk, ˈrȯŋk\ A person purporting himself, or held out by others, to be a wonk (person with a deep interest in details of political policy), who is always wrong when making an argument on policy. This person also is often, but not necessarily always, wronger than the person he or she is attacking.

I love daddy's 1:46 post. Such a picture of what really happens - Some people are cutting down their trees before they get old enough to be a habitat for Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers.
In our "historic district" neighborhood people have learned to get around all the rules & regs.. What kills me is that it is the neighbors that support the rules that tell me HOW to get around them.

'Just agree to the changes...get approval from the historic board...& then don't do it!'
So we jump through these random hoops that are a pain in the butt & then have to be sneaky. The board gets to feel superior & wise as they tell us what we can do with our property...& we get to become pitiful outlaws. :(

daddy, the game wore me out. I fell immediately into a restless sleep. What to do about Louisville? It reminds me of 2010 when I thought we had no chance. If we can somehow beat that slime Rickky P, we might have a chance.

"The Roman Tax policy evolved into taxing a landowner on the number of trees he had on his land."

All those elegant house in the few blocks above The Battery in Charleston are "sideways," i.e. the long dimrnsion of the house, and the "front" door and porch, are perpendicular to the street. This is because property taxes were determined on the basis of the houses' "frontage" on the street.

Three of my closest friends have taken up 183-day-year residence in other states so as to avoid higher taxation. Two fled California; the other (an extremely liberal former SDS leader) fled NYC.

Three other couples (including my sister and her husband) have lived for the required two years in their second homes in order that they could sell them as "principal residences" under the tax code, thus avoiding cap gains taxws on an excluded $500,000.

Yet the left continues to apply static analysis to every proposed change in the tax code.

Danube, in the years we have been battling we have gone over Wong Kim Ark about a thousand times.

WKA had to decide if a persons condition(born on US soil) satisfied a defined term(citizenship).

The Justices first order was to study the definition of "citizens". After a lengthy dissertation, it can't be argued that the Justices did a very thorough bit of research. After their research was complete they then went about testing Ark to see if his condition satisfied the requirements of citizenship.

In Prop 8 the historical definition of the term marriage is not being sought by the judiciary, instead they are focusing on the condition of the individual. If they can make the case that man + woman = man + man = woman + woman, they essentially do an end round and are shirking there responsibilities.

Ms. Parks admitted to Mr. Hyde that she was one of seven teachers — nicknamed “the chosen” — who sat in a locked windowless room every afternoon during the week of state testing, raising students’ scores by erasing wrong answers and making them right. She then agreed to wear a hidden electronic wire to school, and for weeks she secretly recorded the conversations of her fellow teachers for Mr. Hyde.

In the two and a half years since, the state’s investigation reached from Ms. Parks’s third-grade classroom all the way to the district superintendent at the time, Beverly L. Hall, who was one of 35 Atlanta educators indicted Friday by a Fulton County grand jury.

LUN

From the comments:I am a retired chemistry teacher from Texas. All the standardized tests in Texas got to be so time consuming, as far as getting students ready for them, I felt I could no longer teach my AP and preAP classes properly because of the lack of class time.

... so worried about the tests that there was no time for the other tests
There will be a test for irony later

While much of the discussion looked back at the historic clash with President Nixon, I was struck by a different question: Who actually won? From unilateral military actions to warrantless surveillance that were key parts of the basis for Nixon’s impending impeachment, the painful fact is that Barack Obama is the president that Nixon always wanted to be.
LUN

As if an association were a person, with a functioning brain, right? Of course, if you construct it properly (e.g., "most sociologist members of the ASA"), then the argument becomes self-refuting. Which makes Klein either woefully ignorant or deliberately disingenuous (and even I don't think he's that stupid).

Which is hilarious considering how much they've trashed up the tax code to stimulate changes in behavior.

You'd think they'd notice their positions are mutually exclusive, wouldn't you? But apparently they are that stupid.

Who thinks extending marriage to the most promiscuous and least monogamous people on earth, homosexual men, will strengthen the institution?
Here's an idea, first let's go back to treating a marriage contract like a real contract with actual consequences for breaking it and harming the other party.
Then let's see how gay homosexuals think the institution is.
Might even induce a little circumspection among heteros before they take the plunge and a little restraint on them after they have.

I think Priests should be allowed to adopt their altarboys. Tony couldn't fight that, and it would give some legitimacy to the group groping. Scalia wouldn't object to having his feet washed by Francis, who is not a Liberation Theology Jesuit, and so is no Jesuit, at all. It could be called the Jurist/Jesuit Pact.

So the State of California is suing the entire world, literally, to pre-empt any challenges to their authority to issue $6.7 Billion in bonds for the high speed rail project, AKA "The Train to Nowhere". LUN

This is legislative hubris like little else I have seen.

These grifters want that pot of gold at any cost and have lied their way through the entire process. Someone should be filing criminal charges.

--Then you'd have to own up that no-fault divorce has been about as effective as the war on poverty...--

Two sides of the same coin Cap. They've both gone hand in hand in destroying traditional, two parent families.
The war on poverty destroyed poor families and no fault divorce did the same for everybody else; one might almost suspect that was the intention all along. Hmmm.

If you follow the link, play close attention to what you hear. A guy says that a Fox News person (whom he declines to name) told Joe Arpaio that he/she couldn't report on the Obama forgery.

Even assuming all of that double hearsay is accurate, it is easily explained: the "forged" birth certificate story has been so thoroughly discredited, and is so downright silly, that reporting on it would be roughly equivalent to reporting on the claims of 9/11 Truthers. The real world has long since realized that the claim is nonsense.

matt,
On the legal question, what the state is doing with high speed rail is quite similar to the very common "quiet title" action in which a property owner invites the whole rest of the world to present their claims to his property or forever lose their right to do so.

However reading the comments was like stepping through the looking glass into a world in which the only question was which keen train was going to be the biggest success not which gold plated junkpile was going to waste more money or how big a boondoggle the whole thing is.
If these lunatics have their way with their four rail plans to every one horse town in the state, even the highest estimates of the costs are absurdly low.
California has seemingly switched targets from emulating Greece to "CaliCyprus here we come, right back where we started from".

Although I was 1-y during VN due to hypertension, my son who is an avid military historian has wanted nothing since age 5, but be a marine. He was tested at 60 but was rejected because of a history of asthma. Although a social liberal, I have always honored the true believers who volunteered.

The parallels between 1932 and 2008 are not trifling. Hoover won the nomination with 98% of the delegates, but it would be nearly 20 years before republicans regained the WH and 60 years before the House was regained.
Start rebuilding now, all ye of conservative hope.

MarkO--The Blue Devils have played three less than stellar games and won each by 10. In this tournament an off game usually means you go home. They have loads of talent; if most of it shows up they can beat Louisville. They already did once.

Thats my glass half full view; on the other hand, if Kelly or Plumley gets in early foul trouble they are toast.

I think we saw this rodeo, before, with the Simpsons episode about the monorail, and we had a similar experience with the MetroRail, that boondoggle, that the late William Lehman conjured up, that doesn't really go anywhere.

Channel 2 Action News confirms Hall's bond is recommended at $7.5 million. She could face 45 years in prison. The indictment lists 65 counts against 35 people. Suspects include former Superintendent Beverly Hall, Chief Human Resources Officer Millicent Few, three school resource team executive directors, six principals, two assistant principals, six testing coordinators, one school improvement specialist, 13 teachers and one secretary.

There are 35 APS educators charged with racketeering. Hall has also been charged with false statements and writing, theft by taking and false swearing. Her former No. 2, Kathy Augustine, has NOT been named in the indictment.

Winne has learned that the grand jury has heard from more than 36 witnesses. Students threatened to cover up cheating and parents who complained about the situation testified Thursday, according to a source. Teachers who have admitted to cheating have revealed who put them up to it.

They have loads of talent; if most of it shows up they can beat Louisville. They already did once.

They beat Louisville without Dieng. The big man is perfectly healthy now; and if both teams play to potential, I think the edge is clearly with the Cards. (But they are also at least as likely to have the showing up problem, IMO).

"TK, I'm not sure I follow you, but a fundamental difference between Wong Kim Ark and this one is that this case implicates the Equal Protection Clause."

I get that. The plaintiffs argue that they are being denied the "right" of "marriage". The courts are busy defining those rights and not bothering to define marriage.

Imagine if that happened in WKA. Without first giving definition to the group, how is it possible to include or exclude any individual?

As I understand the Equal Protection Clause, I don't see how language in the Constitution can violate it, even though it was written to the States. If that is the case, and the norm is too not give original meaning to a group before you decide whom its members may be, all will soon be lost with Article 2.

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Doesn't this clear the path for a Naturalized citizen to make an Equal Protection claim on the eligibility rules for POTUS?

I just read an AP story linked to by Drudge that said Pope Francis is upsetting the traditionalists in the church whom Benedict supported.

Pope's foot-wash a final straw for traditionalists LUN

The "final straw" is that he washed women's feet, instead of abiding by the traditional all-male ceremony . I would appreciate it if any Catholic who posts here would weigh in on the story, especially, is the event and friction being made too much of, or is it just a tiny tempest in a tiny teapot? do you think that what he's doing differently from Benedict is good, bad, or irrelevant?

Now these pathetic JHU students want him removed as commencement speaker. He's too good for them.

Those snowflakes didn't want to be challenged by any unapproved ideas on their special day. After all, they spent at least four years of being hectored in what to believe and regurgitate and this would be a fine time to expect them to use their brains.

As a former educator and administrator of AP Exams this latest scandal wrt cheating and forcing others to change test answers is abominable to me.We always took such care in regard to security and fairness. I am appalled that something like this was allowed to happen. We seal all the test materials and adhere strictly to time deadlines and the verbal instructions.How will the punishments play out for those who were just following orders? Students are given a number to contact if they suspect cheating. This is both bizarre and disturbing.

Chubby:
As a Catholic, what Pope Francis is doing is in direct accord with the life of Jesus and the catholic faith. Anyone criticizing has an ax to grind and should re-read their Baltimore Catechism. In addition the Pope's actions display a charasmatic leadership and a true grasp of the Bible's gospel message. He is not liberal enough for them therefore the attack knives are out in full force.

In a letter obtained by Media Matters, eight members of the school's class of 2013, including a co-chair of the school's LGBT organization, ask their fellow students to sign a petition describing Carson, a neurosurgery professor at the university, as "an inappropriate choice of speaker at a ceremony intended to celebrate the achievements of our class."

No info on how many (or whether any) have actually signed the petition.

Children have a right to a mother and a father. But who cares about rights when we're talking ideology and political correctness?
If I said I was going to the top of the empire state building, flap my arms and fly away, you would say I was crazy. But if I say I am going to break all the of the biological laws of sexual behavior and live to tell about it, people will get up and applaud. People see rights where none exist and ignore the ones that do exist.

I was impressed when I read about Francis opting to live in such humble quarters. But I loved Benedict too, and don't hold his different choices against him, or as in any way diminishing his spirituality.

None of this is new to Pope Francis. He has done prisioners before as Cardinal and archbishop of Buenos Aires. He has also washed women's feet before on Holy Thursday. The bureaucracy in the Vatican are notorious control freaks who had a lot to do with Benedict throwing up his hands and saying he wasn't healthy or strong enough to deal with it. But Francis is a Jesuit and those guys you don't mess with (sort of like Texans and Marines:). He is living below his means to set an example of humility and reverance. The bulls in the See are just doing a lot of harumpping and will either learn the new program or they will retire gracefully to some minor parish in Umbria>

Stephanie-it is interesting how much credit the AJC is taking. Years ago when I said there has to be cheating given the curricula and practices they are requiring and its known effects on underprivileged students without a chance for remediation outside school. The ed writer for AJC contacted Ed Trust in DC and had one of their big names come accuse me of saying minority kids could not achieve.

I made my points specifically in response to the "name" writer who then did not respond. The powers that be really did try to cover this up. I think Hall always saw herself as untouchable in part because she knew just how much of what was being pushed was actually grounded in good old-fashioned Marxist theories on how to achieve transformation without it being evident until too late.

Well that story is getting out AND she will be known as a lady who harmed children for personal profit. Which she richly deserves.

The truth is that conflict and absurd levels of remuneration for pushing these troubling ideas is precisely what these school districts are designed around, especially the urban ones. I agree with the conclusions that Augustine must have testified and cut a deal. She was to involved to avoid indictment otherwise.